Skyward Sword HD: Quality of Life Improvements

It's Skyward Sword month! And Nintendo starts this month by sharing some more details about the various improvements made in Skyward Sword HD via their new Quality of Life Trailer and a press release. Let's take a look at what has changed, in addition to what already has been known:

• Less Fi: That's with all certainty the best improvement next to the new button controls. Fi doesn't pop into your face now all the time to give you hints. Instead your sword simply blinks and you can ask Fi for hints, if you really need them. If you don't, then you won't be annoyed by this sidekick so easily. Very good change.
  
  
• Skippable Cutscenes: Now you can skip cutscenes right from the start, which previously you could only do in Hero Mode. Ideal for everyone who has already played through the game.
  
  
  
• Skippable Tutorial Dialogues: We haven't seen this in action yet, but apparently the tutorials are now "less intrusive".
  
  
• Improved Dialogues: You can skip through texts much faster and it also shows the name of the character at the top of the dialogue box.
  
  
• Autosaves: Savegames seem to work similarly to the Link's Awakening remake now, where you can freely use three different slots and there's one automatic save file.
  
  
• Streamlined Item Information: This was to be expected, where there used to be a similar problem with the Rupees in Twilight Princess, which then got fixed in Twilight Princess HD. Originally it kept explaining the insects and treasures to you in Skyward Sword on the Wii, whenever you loaded the game again. This could be very annoying, because there are many different items here and it also went into the collection menu each time to show you how the number increments. Luckily, this is now a thing of the past.
  
  
  Curiously, the trailer showed this for Stamina Fruits, which didn't have this issue. (At least not in the European version.) The press release elaborates that this is about the treasures and insects, however.
  
  

With these improvements, Nintendo has actually covered almost all the refinements mentioned by this blog's suggestions for Skyward Sword HD from three years ago. Good job, Ninty! The only thing that's missing is a seamless transition between the sky and Skyloft, where we will have to wait and see how this turns out.

It's just a shame that the new fast travel functionality was locked behind an amiibo and that there are seemingly no additions to the game's content. No new Medals, no Trial Cave or alike. It's really just the bare minimum of what you would expect from this remaster and that's quite disappointing, where this feels like a missed opportunity.